Eighteen-year-old Nick Griggs and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Kate O'Connor are late additions to the Irish team for the World Athletics Championships in Hungary later this month.
Unfortunately, seasoned campaigner Thomas Barr has been forced to withdraw due to an injury incurred in training this week.
It will be a first World Championships for both Griggs and O’Connor. The Tyrone teenager will join Andrew Coscoran and Luke McCann in the men’s 1500m and merits the selection after setting Irish U20 records over the 1500m, Mile, 3000m and 5000m.
In the meantime, Griggs will be in action at this week's European Junior Championships in Jerusalem as he bids to defend the 3000m title he won in 2021.
O'Connor, who lives in Dundalk but has Northern Ireland qualifications, has been added to the heptathlon field.
The Irish record holder has impressed this season with a best of 6125 points achieved in Germany in June.
Read more:
- Nick Griggs ready to defend his European U20 3000m title in Israel
- Sensational mile run in Monaco puts Ciara Mageean in the frame for World Championships medal
- Ciara Mageean and Rhasidat Adeleke withdraw from National Track & Field Championships
The addition of Griggs and O’Connor and the loss of Barr now mean there are 24 athletes confirmed in the Irish squad making it the largest ever selected for these championships.
Spearheading the Irish challenge across the busy nine-day schedule will be European Championship medal winner Ciara Mageean, American collegiate (NCAA) champion Rhasidat Adeleke and the in-form Sarah Lavin who reduced her personal best in the 100 metres hurdles at the weekend in Bern to 12.67 seconds, just a fraction outside Derval O’Rourke’s national record.
The action gets underway in Budapest on August 19 and concludes on August 27.
